A picture may be worth a thousand words — but it also can generate a million wildly divergent thoughts, feelings, and points of view.
Luckily, Baltimore is blessed with an unusually rich visual arts culture for a city its size that includes museums, galleries that showcase local artists, and schools that are training the next generation of painters, ceramists and sculptors.
Below are three exhibits we’re looking forward to checking out in 2026:
Baltimore Photography
This exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art will explore how a new medium — photography — helped shape the way the City of Baltimore perceived itself in the past and present.
The exhibit, which will open Oct. 4 and run for about five months, is being described as the first comprehensive survey of the history of photography from the invention of medium in 1840 to the present, according to an email from a museum spokeswoman.
The show is tentatively titled “Baltimore Photography.” It will include about 150 images shot by approximately 50 living and dead photographers ranging from the former Sun photojournalist A. Aubrey Bodine to Devin Allen, who chronicled the 2015 protests over the death of Freddie Gray for “Time”magazine.
“Douriean Fletcher: Jewelry of the Afrofuture”
In the Spring, the Walters Art Museum will host an exhibit dedicated to the works of Fletcher, the self-taught artist who designed the jewelry for the Marvel’s two “Black Panther” movies.
About 100 pieces of jewelry will be included in “Douriean Fletcher: Jewelry of the Afrofuture” a traveling show that opens in Baltimore from April 18 to Aug. 9.
Exhibit highlights will include jewelry worn by Queen Ramonda and the Dora Milaje from the blockbuster 2018 “Black Panther” and 2022 “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” films. They will be displayed alongside a selection of the films’ costumes by Academy Award–winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter.
These pieces “offer a window into how adornment defines character, advances world-building, and represents Black sovereignty on screen,” according to a museum news release.
A Passion for Fashion
Though it doesn’t yet have an official title, AVAM’s annual themed exhibit opening in October will explore adornment, the way in which clothing expresses the wearers’ personalities while also reflecting their cultural values and preoccupations.
“Our exhibitions and programs have always been focused on themes that are core to our identity as human beings,” AVAM director Ellen Owens said in a recent interview. “But we want to be even more up front about that in the future and make sure that we’re drawing on experiences that are relevant to everyone.”
The exhibit will feature several innovative local designers —though some of the items on display might be more wacky than wearable.
“Because this is AVAM,” Owens said, “we’ll have clothes that are adorned all over with buttons.”
Have a news tip? Contact Mary Carole McCauley at [email protected] and 410-332-6704.